


and behind our saints, we hide our face

by callunavulgari



Series: No More Happy Endings [Organization XIII short stories and drabbles] [2]
Category: Bartimaeus - Jonathan Stroud, Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossover, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-30
Updated: 2013-08-30
Packaged: 2017-12-25 01:50:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/947186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/callunavulgari/pseuds/callunavulgari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The world is dark, sparkling with magic and history, yet reeking of an upcoming war. They slip in among the humans, disguising themselves as a boy magician from a foreign country and his not so faithful djinn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	and behind our saints, we hide our face

**Author's Note:**

> #83 of the 100 prompt Organization 13 project: Love. I wanted to do at least one more fic for Axel/Roxas month, but alas, I've been too busy working on my Spirited Away AU for the Big Bang to get anything really new. So have another spiffed up fic from 2008 that I never got around to posting.

Roxas is not the most beautiful of Organization XIII. Certainly not. He doesn’t have Larxene’s deceivingly beautiful face, nor Saix’s long hair. He doesn’t have Zexion’s quiet beauty, or Demyx’s carefree smile. He’s rather plain in the greater scheme of things. He’s short, and looks not a day over fourteen.  
  
And somehow, everyone is drawn to him. Watching the humans migrate to him is like watching a moth fall in love with a flame. He shines with it, and they eye him like he’s a glittering bauble that they would like to keep as their own. It’s as if there is something inside that makes the general population fall in love with him.  
  
They are in a strange world, where demons walk the streets as the lapdogs of magicians. Even the demons flock to him as if they can’t help it, crossing to him to perch on his shoulder in the guise of a field mouse, or prancing up to him in the form of a human woman, smiling at him with perfect lips.  
  
The world is dark, sparkling with magic and history, yet reeking of an upcoming war. They slip in among the humans, disguising themselves as a boy magician from a foreign country and his not so faithful djinn. It’s troublesome how suspicious the magicians are, asking for paperwork and documents while eying Axel as if he’s a bug that needs to be stepped on. Roxas smiles at them, perfect teeth glittering and blue eyes round with innocence. They melt under that smile, backing down and apologizing to him.  
  
Roxas mingles with them, asking if they’ve heard any strange rumors of creatures with glowing eyes who steal hearts. The men and women act surprised and confused, saying they haven’t heard of such a thing in their time. Wayward demons, yes. But no whisper of the heartless.  
  
They are nearly ready to report back to the Superior when the first waves of fighting break out. The man calls himself Lovelace, and he traps them all within some strange pentacle. The heartless is giant, distorting reality about him. A woman walking by screams when her hair becomes doves and fly away. Axel snarls at the man, flinging a fireball at his face. The fire dances toward Lovelace, burning through everything it touches. Yet the man brushes it away as if it’s a thrown match.  
  
Roxas stands beside him, quiet and thoughtful as Axel tosses hotter and hotter blasts of flame at the man. Lovelace laughs, telling Roxas that he needs to teach his demon respect. With a gesture, so slight that Axel hardly notices it the keyblades are in Roxas’ hands, gleaming and deadly. He cuts a path through the crowd, and is at Lovelace’s side before he can blink.  
  
Axel expects a spray of blood to paint the floor, instead, a glittering gem goes skittering across the polished marble, between dozens of panicked feet. Lovelace dives for it, but Roxas holds him still, his blue eyes fierce and something like light glittering beneath his skin. He turns to a strange boy that Axel had not noticed before, holding Lovelace out as if he’s an offering.  
  
From his position, he can’t see what the two are saying, but the boy shakes his head fiercely, eyes wide and face pale with fear. Roxas shrugs, and the keyblades are two flashes of light that have Lovelace ripped wide open, his entrails spilling across the stone floor. Then he turns his blades on the heartless, and why yes, that is light glittering beneath his skin.  
  
They cut it down together, chakrams and keyblades slicing through the air in a dance of fire and ultraviolet light.  
  
They leave as soon as they’re free, but as they're nearing the door of shadow he sees Roxas look back at the boy mournfully as more heartless erupt from the stone beneath them. Can't win 'em all, he thinks, watching the boy's demon throw weak blasts at the creatures. It lets out a cry of confusion, hand outstretched towards the boy—and disappears, the final syllable of a dismissal leaving the boy's lips just as a heartless gets it claws wedged beneath his ribcage. His last glimpse of the world is of that boy, crumpling like a broken marionette as the shadows close around him.  
  
Love, he muses. Idly, he wonders what kind of love he just witnessed, and whether the emotion made the boy stronger in the end. He glances fondly at Roxas, the back of his tousled hair and his sweat-slicked skin, and wonders if he would sacrifice himself for his partner. Roxas smiles at him, small and sad, and leans against him—just a bit. Is Axel just like all the others who flock to him, drawn to a miniscule speck of what was once the keyblade master's heart? Would he die for him, in the end? If it really came down to him or Roxas?  
  
He laughs, ruffling the kid's hair as they step out of the portal and into the light.  
  
Guess they'll just have to wait and see.  
  



End file.
